Photoflash lamp unit



June 23, 1970 1 N-BROKJKs T 3,517,182

PHOTOFLASH LAMP mm Filed Feb. 7, 1968 INVENTORS DAVID N. BROOKS BgfimDELM BY M AT ORNEY 3,517,182 PHOTOFLASH LAMP UNIT David N. Brooks,Peabody, and Bernard Kopelman, Salem, Mass., assignors to SylvaniaElectric Products Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 7, 1968,Ser. No. 703,675 Int. Cl. G03b 15/02 US. Cl. 2401.3 8 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A disposable package for holding a plurality ofpercussively ignited photoflash lamps including a platform whichprovides support and has protection for the percussion portion of thelamp to prevent accidental flashing. The platform has a plurality ofarms extending from the center thereof which forms a post, and aplurality of apertures through which the percussive portion of the lampextends. Each of the arms has a depression therein which is aligned withone of the apertures in the platform and receives the percussive portionof the lamp to thereby prevent the lamp from being accidentally flashed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates to flash photography, and more particularly to a disposablepackage or unit containing a plurality of sequentially ignitablephotoflash lamps with an individual reflector for each lamp disposedtherein, and a connecting base for indexing the unit. More specifically,this invention concerns a disposable package for use with percussivelyignitable photoflash lamps in which protection and support is affordedto the percussive portion.

Description of the prior art There has been a need for a more reliablephotoflash lamp which is not based upon a supply of electrical currentfor ignition. To attain this goal, a photoflash lamp has been developedwhich flashes upon a percussive below. Such lamps are disclosed in thecopending application of Kopelman, Ser. No. 679,142, filed Oct. 30,1967, entitled Flashlamp and assigned to the same assignee as thepresent application.

The lamp disclosed in the Kopelman application includes a glassenvelope, sealed at one end and enclosing a fill of oxygen and shreddedzirconium foil. A deformable metal tube extends through the press sealto the interior of the envelope and is closed at its outer end. A chargeof percussively ignitable material is disposed in the tube and whenstruck, will ignite and spew hot particles into the body of the envelopeagainst the zirconium foil, thereby flashing the lamp.

Such lamps require packaging which is attractive yet functional andcapable of being handled without igniting the photoflash lamp due toaccidental striking. Although packaging for electrically flashed lampshas been developed, such units are not completely satisfactory for thepercussive types. For example, in the United States patent to Kottler,No. 3,327,105, a housing is discussed for four electrically flashedlamps. These lamps are disposed upon a base and seated in front ofreflectors. The reflectors and lamps are contained within a lighttransmitting shield.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, we havediscovered a single-use, easily handled unit for holding percussivelyignited photoflash lamps. The package is adapted to be connecteddirectly to a suitable hammer and indexing United States Patent3,517,182 Patented June 23,, 1970 mechanism in the camera. A lighttransmitting cover is provided. for the unit and individual reflectorsare included for each lamp so that a separate camera flash reflector isnot needed, the individual reflectors being designed particularly forthe specific lamp included in the package. A platform is disposed at thebottom of the package and an integrally connected center post isdisposed therebeneath. The center post includes arms with a depressionat the end of each into which fits a tube for percussive ignition of alam The center post provides means for indexing and preventingaccidental flashing of the lamps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective viewof a photoflash lamp package.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the upper surface of the base of the package.FIG. 2a is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the lines Za-Zain FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the bottom of one embodiment of the base of thepackage.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the bottom of another embodiment of the base ofthe package. FIG. 4a is a side elevational view of the base shown inFIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, the presentinvention comprises a disposable multilamp unit or package having aconnecting base or platform portion 11 which is connectable with asuitable receiving socket in a photographic camera for indexing thepercussive tube of the lamp before a hammer. Four vertically arrangedphotoflash lamps 12 of generally conventional shape are orthogonallyspaced about the top surface thereof. Each photoflash lamp 12 comprisesa hermetically sealed, light transmitting glass envelope containing acombustion supporting gas under pressure and a charge of ignitable metalwhich produces an amount of light of selected peak and duration whenignited by a blow upon tube 14. The construction and operation of thephotoflash lamp is described in the previously mentioned application ofKopelman.

The press seal or bottom portion 15 of each of the photoflash lamps 12rests upon the platform 11 and is supported by engaging shoulders (notshown in this figure). A percussive tube 14 of each lamp is disposedthrough an aperture 16 in the platform 11 and extends therebeneath torest upon arms 18 and be cradled in a depression (not shown in thisfigure). Centrally disposed beneath the platform 11 is a center postwhich is formed integrally therewith. The center post can be designed soas to include a plurality of anvil portions 17 (one of each lamp) whichare aligned with each of the apertures 16 and the sides of each of thepercussive tubes 14 are disposed thereagainst. When using such anvilportions 17, protection for the percussive tube 14 is afforded togetherwith prevention of ignition as might occur if the tube was accidentallystruck before use. Moreover, the anvil portions serve as bases for thetubes 14 so that when the latter is radially struck by a hammer,unyielding support for the tube is provided, thereby reliably flashingthe lamp. On the other hand, when the anvil portion 17 is not utilized,the tube 14 is supported by the depression and the aperture 16 therebyallowing the hammer blow at almost any angle. Such elimination isfrequently desirable when a wire is inserted inside tube 14 as mentionedin the Kopelman application.

Disposed beneath the center post are arms 18 which cover the entirebottom of percussive tube 14. The arms 18 are integrally connected tothe platform 11 by means of the centerpost. They intersect at the centerof the platform 11 and are arranged in a cruciform shape. Because 3 ofthe protection afforded by arms 18, accidental flashing of the lamp isprevented when the package is handled or placed upon the camera. Eacharm 18 has a depression 31 (clearly seen in FIG. 2a) positionedimmediately below and aligned with aperture 16 and adapted to receivethe end of tube 14.

Disposed between, and separating the photoflash lamps 12 from each otheris a reflector portion of preformed sheet material having a lightreflective coating and defining an inwardly dished, individual lightreflector surface 29 of suitable shape for each of the four photoflashlamps 12. A light transmitting shield or cover 30 of substantially cubicshape is sealed to the top surface of the platform 11 and is disposedover the photoflash lamps 12 and the reflector portion 29.

Each of the photoflash lamps 12 and corresponding reflector surfaces 29comprises a photoflash component suitable in itself for use inaugmenting ambient light to achieve a desired amount of illumination.The selected photoflash component is connectable with a synchronizinghammer in the camera for ignition of the lamp 12 in timed relation iwthcamera operation. Each photoflash component forms a complete attachment,without need for additional attachments or reflector structures otherthan the single connecting socket and the hammer elements.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the shoulders (which were previously mentioned)are disposed upon the top of platform 11 and spaced by a distancesubstantially equal to the width of the press seal 15 of the photoflashlamp 12. The percussive tube 14 will fit into the aperture 16 and thelamp will be fixedly held by shoulders 20. Centrally disposed in thebase 11 is a square retention aperture 19 with the center post disposedtherebeneath.

In FIG. 2a the disposition of the tube 14 in the aperture 16 is shown.The end of tube 14 can rest in depression 31 of arm 18. The distancebetween the upper surface of platform 11 and the bottom of depression31, is substantially equal to the external length of tube 14. Asmentioned previously, anvil 17 which forms the center post andintegrally connects arm 18 to platform 11, can be eliminated so as toprovide for a freely standing tube 14 in depression 31 with no anteriorsupport. In that case, the center post is merely a connector. When anvil17 abuts against tube 14, support and rigid disposition is provided.

In FIG. 3, the reverse side of the base 11 and cruciform arrangement ofarms 18 beneath retention aperture 19* is shown. The arms 18 extend outsulficiently so as to be disposed beneath the aperture 16 in the base11. A depression is disposed in the arms 18 and aligned with theaperture 16 (shown in FIG. 3) for retention of the tube 14.

A variation of the center post of FIGS. 1 to 3 is shown in FIGS. 4 and4a. The platform 21 can be identical to the one described previously inFIG. 2. The arms 22 are arranged tangentially so as to meetsubstantially in the center thereof and form a post. Forming a part ofand extending at right angles from the outer ends of each of the arms 22are support extensions 24. Depressions 25 are disposed in the extensionsand are aligned beneath apertures 26 in platform 21. Hence, When a lampis placed on the top of the platform 21, the tube will extend throughthe aperture 26 and the end will fit into the depression 25..

As shown in FIG. 4a, the support extensions 24 and arms 22 are integralwith platform 21 and connected thereto by means of anvil portion 27(which may be eliminated and substituted by a connector as mentionedpreviously in the discussion of FIGS. 1 to 3). Preferably, a smallrecess 31 is cut at the inner end of each anvil portion 22 so as toprovide for easy attachment of the 4 unit to the camera. The shoulders28 which hold the lamp in place on the platform 21 function in the samemanner as shoulders 20 in FIG. 2.

It is apparent that modifications and changes can be made within thespirit and scope of the instant invention, but it is our intention,however, only to be limited by the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

As our invention, we claim:

1. A photoflash unit comprising:

a platform support;

a center post disposed beneath said platform support and including aplurality of arms extending from the center;

means connecting said arms to said platform support;

a depression disposed in each of said arms;

a plurality of aperture means disposed in said platform support, each ofsaid aperture means being aligned with one of said depressions;

a plurality of percussively ignitable photoflash lamps disposed on thetop of said platform support, each of said lamps having a metal tubecontaining a percussively i gnitable charge and extending therebcneath,each of said tubes extending through said aperture means and terminatingin said depression.

2. The unit according to claim 1 wherein each of said lamps includes apress seal at the bottom thereof through which said tube extends andsaid base has a pair of shoulders disposed against the sides of each ofsaid preSs seals.

3. The unit according to claim 1 wherein each lamp has a reflectordisposed behind it and said lamps and reflectors are contained within alight transmitting shield.

4. The unit according to claim 3 wherein said platform is generallysquare and four lamps are disposed thereon with four reflectors disposedbehind said lamps, said platform and said shield joining together toform a generally cubic shape.

5. The unit according to claim 1 wherein the edge of said meansconnecting said arms to said platform is disposed between said apertureand said depression and forms a support anvil for said tube.

6. The unit according to claim 4 wherein the arms are arranged in acruciform shape, the intersection of said arms forming a post and beingdisposed substantially in the center of said platform.

7. The unit according to claim 4 :wherein the arms tangentially extendfrom the center, the intersection of said arms forming a post beingdisposed substantially in the center of said platform.

8. The unit according to claim 1 wherein a central, generally squareaperture is disposed on said platform, above the center point of saidarms and adapted to engage a retainer on a camera.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1933 Kobayashi 43l;93 XR7/1963 Prochnow 240-13 3/1967 Aymar 240--1.3 4/1969 Shaffer et al 431-9314,821 4/1934 Australia.

NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner F. L. BRAUN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl.X.R.

